Sticks and Stones
by Converse r life
Summary: The seventh daughter of the sea returns, but finds it difficult to reconcile her past with her present. Set in TLM 2, against the backdrop of Melody's running away.


**Rifling around my archives and I found this gem. I think I have a thing for the missing scenes, the moments we never get to see, so this was born. I'm pretty sure it'll be a two-shot, but let me know what you think in the reviews, please!**

* * *

"Marin!"

The playful shriek wasn't loud enough to reverberate off the walls, but King Triton, being so near the door, was able to hear it clearly. Although the hour wasn't too late, it was far past the time for even the oldest of his grandchildren to be up. Hours like these he'd usually be in his study, finishing some last-minute work.

Yet, instead, here he was, in front of his oldest daughter's bedroom door. He always tried to keep her out of the issues that he deemed too harsh. Though she may be queen one day, she was still his baby.

There were different sounds now. No longer shrieking but… _oh_. The merman winced, his face contorting into a grimace. She'd been married for over a decade, but the idea of one of his daughters…it was _unpleasant_.

He sighed, wishing he didn't have to do this, before lifting his free hand to knock.

 _Boom. Boom. Boom._

This sound made it into the hallway, echoing loudly. Almost immediately, the voices from inside the room silenced. All was still for a moment.

Then there was a fast mumble, something that sounded like it ended with shells. Triton winced again at the very notion. There was shifting, the bodies inside the room adjusting, and the sound of water moving due to fin strokes.

The door was pulled open slowly. Immediately, Triton recognized his son-in-law, even with his blonde hair tousled. He had on a lazy grin, his shoulders slumped, until he caught sight of the king. As though pulled by magic, he straightened up sharply and the grin was wiped from his face.

Triton raised an eyebrow at him. The younger man tried his hardest not to seem intimidated as he called over his shoulder, "Uh…Attina?"

There was laughter from inside the room, and a lilting voice that was swimming closer to the door. "Marin, you look like you've seen—" Attina's voice stopped short when she realized it wasn't one of her sisters, "Dad?"

Triton gave her a grim look that immediately set the woman on edge. She pressed a hand against her husband's back, fear gripping at her. Her father would not bother her this late unless it was something very urgent that couldn't wait till morning. Every possible awful thing that could have happened ran through her mind.

 _War. Famine. Plague. Death. Children. Sisters._

"Melody has gone missing."

* * *

 _Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me._

Ariel could pinpoint the exact moment when Eric had taught her that phrase. They'd been young newlyweds, and she'd been pouting all afternoon over the way she'd overheard a Lord's daughter refer to her being built like an amphibian. The reference itself wasn't that hurtful, she recalled, but the scornful tone used with it had dug deep under her skin.

"Your sisters will be happy to see you," a quiet voice intoned, and Ariel's head jerked up to look at her father, who was watching her from the corner of his eye.

Neither of them had spoken much on this swim back to Atlantica. She wasn't even sure the last time she'd made this journey, but the way still looked the same, and her body had adjusted happily back to her tail. Yet, even with the calmness the sea gave her, her thoughts still strayed to her husband. A part of her yearning to be next to him on this search, another part furious that he'd told her to go.

She turned her thoughts away, and bit her lip, nodding slowly as she processed what he had to say. "I've missed them."

"They've missed you as well," Triton answered, keeping close watch on his youngest as they swam. He hadn't seen her like this in years, her _real_ form, so to speak. "The palace feels quieter without you, even with all the children."

 _I haven't lived there for thirteen years_ , Ariel thought, _he's trying to make small talk_. "There's eleven of them, right?"

Her father was quiet for too long of a moment. She looked back up at him, and found that he was blatantly staring at her, concerned. "There's fourteen, actually."

A heavy feeling, worse than she already felt, piled onto Ariel's chest. She looked away from his green eyes, struggling to say, "Oh. Fourteen."

"Fifteen, really, if this includes Melody." Triton said, carefully gauging her reaction. Ariel winced, but said nothing. He sighed. "We _will_ find her, Ariel. She doesn't know the sea, there's no way—"

"She's been sneaking out to the sea for years," she cut him off, unwilling to listen to more of this.

Triton blinked, his brows furrowing together. "How do you know?"

She gave a depreciating, hollow laugh. "Sebastian told me. She swore him to secrecy."

"But the wall—"

"She was right, it's stupid. It's done nothing to keep her from finding the locket." She sighed, eyes training to the ground in an attempt to keep herself steady. "I should have known what she was up to, I shouldn't have yelled at her, if I would have just _explained_ , if she had _any_ idea maybe she wouldn't have..."

"Every parent goes through hard times with their teenagers, Ariel, this isn't your fault. You did what you thought best to protect her." Triton said, quietly, his concern growing at his youngest daughter's self-depreciation.

The woman shook her head, frowning tightly. In the distance, she could just make out the lights of Atlantica. She'd had this same discussion with Carlotta not a week before, how could everything have gone downhill so fast? "Melody's a _baby_."

"So were you," Triton answered, and when Ariel looked up at him, he saw the fierce resolve in her eyes. She always had that look when she wanted to argue that her leaving the sea for the best.

"I was hardly that young, I was sixteen." She retorted quickly, quick to rise to anger. She wanted to blame someone for her child missing, and anyone challenging her at this moment, when she was so high-strung, would not help. "I knew what I was doing."

Triton nodded. "Yes, but you were fifteen when you swamaway from home and found your mother's music box. And you were still fifteen later than year when you didn't come home, the night you found a human bracelet and got it was stuck on your wrist. You were sixteen when you swamaway from home for three days, after I destroyed your…treasures."

"…you remember all that?" Ariel wondered, surprised, and slightly suspicious at the point he was trying to make.

He father managed a slight smile, despite everything that had happened tonight, he was happy she was here. "I haven't gone senile yet, dear. I blamed myself every time you swamaway from home. It's a natural reaction."

"It wasn't your fault, though." She argued, her frown coming back into place. "I was just being reckless and stubborn."

Without warning, King Triton stopped swimming. Ariel went for a few more fin-strokes, before noticing. She turned around, confused. They were right outside the gates to the city, the soldiers standing guard as they'd always done, backs straight, eyes ahead; she did not recognize their faces.

"Daddy?" She asked, wildly searching for some type of explanation. He stared at her, as though really taking her in.

"I never thought I would hear you say that," he mused, shaking his head, before swimming closer to her, and cupping her face in his large hand. "Every time you swamaway from home, dear, I always found you, even when I thought there was no way. Just like you'll find Melody; I'm sure of it."

Ariel managed a weak smile, because she wasn't sure what to say. How did she tell her father that she didn't believe him? That the circumstances were totally different now, Melody was younger than she'd been, less sure of the immortality that all teens seemed to possess? Her father's words did little to ease the heavy weight placed on her chest.

Her father's hand dropped; she noticed new lines in his face. When had that happened? "We should return, there may be new reports."

Ariel nodded. She didn't want to state what they both knew, that if there'd been any good news, it would have been out by now. So instead, she followed his lead, swimming through the city she used to call home.

 _It hasn't changed much_ , she thought to herself, _although that could just be because everyone is asleep_.

The silence stretched between father and daughter once more. They entered the palace easily, and Ariel tried hard to not notice how those guards' eyes trailed after her, wonderingly. It seemed not everyone had forgotten she'd once lived here.

As they swam through the open areas of the palace, heading to her father's throne room, Ariel could hear voices as she rounded the corner. Distinct ones. She focused on the noise, hoping to find some distraction from all the quiet.

"…need to relax," one voice seemed to point out, even and calm.

"Relax? I don't even know what _happened_ and you're telling me to _relax_?" An annoyed voice answered, one that sounded familiar, but Ariel wasn't sure she could recognize it.

"But pacing isn't going to make anything better," the first voice retorted quickly, smoothly even.

There was an irritated sigh, one that sounded almost achingly familiar. "I don't even know how bad it is, or how to even fix it, so _yes_ Marin, I'm going to pace because even though I know it won't make anything better, that is the only thing I _can_ do right now!"

That short tone suddenly made Ariel's eyes grow wide. She knew that voice, she knew who owned that voice. She'd been on the receiving end of that sharp sound more times than she'd care to admit.

Without really thinking it through, she suddenly pushed her tail as fast as it would go. Past her father and his surprised look. Past the columns she'd played tag in-between when she was young. Even past the stupid potted plants that made loud noises.

She rounded the corner fast, and had just enough time to see a pair of bewildered green eyes looking towards the commotion she was causing, right before she rammed straight into her oldest sister.

Her arms wrapped tightly around her neck, head buried into her shoulder. There was a stunned silence for almost a full thirty seconds, before the redhead felt it come on. Without warning, she found the stress, terror, and anger manifest itself into a fit of sobs.

"What the…" The other voice from earlier muttered, as though he was clearly astonished at the turn of events.

"A-Ariel?" Through the own sounds of her heavy cries, the woman heard her name being drawn out in a soft, shocked whisper. There was a hand that was lifted up to her hair, running through it, as though it wasn't there. "Father?"

"Eric suggested that she might find an easier time searching for Melody if she was in the sea," the booming voice of King Triton answered, and Ariel gripped harder at her sister at the sound of her daughter's name. "She agreed, obviously."

"But how did…?" The other voice wondered, still in a sort of daze at the entire situation.

"Argument. She'd been sneaking out, found the locket, and after she confronted Ariel and received no answers, she went off to the sea to find some." Triton explained with a grimace, the best summary he could manage.

His heart ached for his little girl, knowing her pain all too well. One could never forget the idea of their child missing. Still, he reasoned that right now, if Ariel's reaction was any indication, Attina was the best mermaid to be there for her.

" _That's_ a plot twist," the voice muttered, the astonishment wearing off into wariness. Ariel's sobs were starting to die down now, and she was becoming a hiccupping mess.

"I should see if there are any updates." Triton said, exhaling with a shake of his head. He'd always pictured a more joyful reunion, under better circumstances. "Attina, will you…?"

Ariel could feel her sister bob her head up and down. She felt Attina's free hand that wasn't stroking her hair soothingly start to rub her back. "I've got her, Dad, don't worry."

"Right." Triton agreed, "I'll inform you if there is any news."

Attina nodded once more, finally looking up at her father with fierce resolve. There was nothing she wouldn't do for her sisters. "Please do."

With nothing more to be said, King Triton nodded at his eldest, and her husband, before giving one last look to his redheaded daughter. This was all too reminiscent of the night he'd brought her home, after that nasty business with Ursula. Sighing, because her pain only multiplied his own, he turned, swimming off to seek any new information.

In the meantime, Ariel had disentangled herself from her sister. Attina's green eyes never left her features, one hand smoothing back the young woman's hair. The redhead wouldn't raise her head to see her sister, slightly embarrassed for her lack of decorum.

"Are you…alright, Ariel?" In response to the question Marin asked of her, the woman tried to answer yes, instead hiccupped, and started to feel the hot swell of tears form back in her eyes.

She bit her bottom lip hard to keep from sobbing again. She was _not_ a guppy. It had been a stressful night, but she would not lose herself, not here, not now. She had to stay strong.

Attina shot an annoyed glance at her husband, who shrugged in response, wary as he looked at his sister-in-law. The brunette let her hands fall, so that she could lift Ariel's in her own. "It's good to see you again, baby sister."

Ariel lifted her head slightly now, just the top of her impossibly big blue eyes looking into her big sister's. Attina's hair was down, she realized, tucked behind her ears. She forced a small smile at the scene, a part of her ripping at the seams to do so. Then she opened her lips to say something, anything that could make things seem not as crazy as they appeared.

" _Mom_?"

A voice that wasn't hers questioned loudly, surprise in every part of it. Three heads snapped in the direction it had come from, each person with a different reaction. For one split second, Ariel felt hope surge through her.

It came crashing down a moment later.

There, floating with a half eaten cookie in her hand, was a mergirl she did not recognize. Light purple fins, a half yellow, half green band around her chest, and long locks of wavy, dirty blonde hair framed her face. Her eyes were a deep set green, and from her light colored eyebrows pulled low, it was easy to tell she was confused.

"Coral!" Marin exclaimed, swimming towards the girl. "What are you doing up at this time of night?"

The mergirl looked up at her father, then at the cookie at her hand, before quickly hiding it behind her back. "I thought I heard a noise; I was going to fight it."

"Sure you didn't just hear your stomach?" Marin wondered, brushing her hair away from her face affectionately, a lazy smile drawing on his features when the girl gave him a sheepish grin, drawing the cookie out from behind her back and stuffing it into her mouth.

"I was a little hungry too," Coral responded, shrugging her shoulders up and down. When a flash of red caught the corner of her eye, she looked back at the other woman, befuddlement flashing across her face again. "Who's that, Dad?"

Attina dropped her sister's hands, swimming over to her husband and daughter. Her face was set in disapproval, and she purposefully avoided the question. "You wouldn't _be_ hungry if you would have eaten dinner."

"I don't like plankton pâté," the girl responded, almost affronted. "Aunt Arista told me a story about how once her and a friend dumped it on some alligators who were trying to steal the royal treasure, and snapping clams came after them. I don't need snapping clams coming for _me_!"

"Is that the noise you thought you heard, snapping clams?" Marin wondered, and the girl nodded seriously. "You were going to fight a horde of snapping clams?"

"Grandfather taught me how to fight yesterday," Coral said by way of answer, thrusting out her fist as hard as she could for effect. "He said if I punch _through_ something instead of _at_ it I'll hit it harder."

"Right," Marin nodded at her, "and if you keep your thumb on the outside, you'll be the toughest mergirl in the whole kingdom."

Coral's eyes shined at the idea, growing wider by the second. "Tough enough to fight off alligators?"

"Gators, thugs, sharks, you name it, you'll be able to fight them all off," her father answered easily, his lips curving upwards when his daughter beamed under the idea.

"Violence is the _last_ resort, though, _right_ , Marin?" Attina stressed, seeing an all too familiar gleam in the girl's eyes. More than likely she'd go searching for trouble to see if she could really battle it off.

"Huh?" A glare sent in his direction made the merman quickly straighten up. "Oh, well, that's true, your mother's right, no fighting unless _absolutely_ necessary, and especially not against your brother _or_ cousins."

"Okay, so what if they—?"

"Nope," Marin answered, shaking his head.

"But what if you're not there and—?"

"Most especially, no." Attina answered, firm in her response. The girl frowned, pursing out her lips in frustration. Her mother laughed lightly, wrapping her arms around her small body, and kissing her forehead. "Go back to bed, dear, there's no snapping clams out here."

"Are you _sure_? I _really_ think I heard them, Mom." The girl replied, resting her head comfortably against her mother's chest and closing her eyes lightly. It was far past her bedtime, and she was feeling it.

"Tell you what," Marin said, leaning down to get to the girl's eye-level. She opened a single drowsed eye. "I'll take you back to your room, and tuck you in _really_ tight. If we see any snapping clams, I'll let you engage in all out warfare with them. Alright?"

"What if I don't want to go to sleep?" The young mermaid questioned, obviously tired, but fighting through the waves of exhaustion. "I want to stay up, I'm not one of the dumb little kids."

"Coralina…" Attina's voice warned, using the girl's full name in response to the language used.

Even in her weary state, the younger mermaid knew when it was time to call it quits. She squirmed out of her mother's arms, swimming up to kiss her cheek lightly.

"Goodnight, love you, Mom." She said sweetly, innocently as she always did before going to bed.

"I love you too," Attina answered, squeezing the girl's shoulder affectionately, before pushing her in the direction of her father. "Marin, don't rile her up too much before bed."

"You have so little faith in me, it's heartbreaking," her husband responded, cheekily, laughing as his daughter attacked his back, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Okay, point taken Coral, I'll give you a ride back to your room. Ready?"

"Go, Dad!" The girl answered as her affirmation, giggling, and all but forgetting about the other woman in the room. "Go!"

"Alright, alright, hold on tight," Marin responded, smiling as he swam off in the direction of the girl's room, going slightly faster to the shrieking delight of his girl.

Attina watched the two off with amusement, unable to keep the smile from her face. Her daughter and husband seemed to just have a natural rapport. It was probably because Marin was an avid fan of all things mischievous, and Coral seemed to have inherited it ten-fold.

A swishing of bubbles behind her made her look back. She winced, having forgotten Ariel was still there. Right, tonight was about her baby sister.

"I'm sorry," she apologized gently, swimming over to the redhead, "she's got a habit of wanting to know everything that happens."

Ariel said nothing, staring down at her fins. Concerned, her sister brushed back strands of her hair. That seemed to awaken the woman somewhat, making her say, in a soft voice, "I was the friend."

Attina's brows moved together, worried and unsure. "What do you mean?"

"In Arista's story, about the plankton pâté and snapping clams. I was the _friend_ ," she looked up, the pain in her eyes insurmountable.

Attina was about to ask what she meant, when she felt the tug of an old memory. Something hazy, she couldn't quite make it out, but remembered returning from the festival of tides, and the palace was a complete mess.

Her heart sunk like the ships at the bottom of the sea. She took one of Ariel's hands again, squeezing it tightly. "Come on, you should be in bed."

She turned around, as though to swim away, and tugged Ariel's hand with her. But there was a stiffness there, an unwillingness to move on her sister's part. Confused, the oldest merprincess turned back to the other young woman, anxiously asking the questions she could not say aloud with her deep set green eyes.

"She's out there, somewhere." Ariel said, the crack in her voice inevitable as her anxiety rose. "How can I _sleep_? I should—I need to be out there, I have to go find her!"

She tried to swim off, to Neptune knew where, but Attina was faster, grabbing her shoulders before she could move much. "And what do you think you're going to find that the search parties won't? I know your terrified and guilt-ridden, but it's not going to be of any help."

"But Morgana is out there, if she finds Melody, if she—if she manages to get a hold of her—!" Her hysterics were returning, no sobs this time, but panic was setting in again as she repeated what had been running through her mind all night. "My daughter is _missing_ , and it's all my fault, and someone is _out there_ who wants to _hurt_ my baby and I just can't be _useless_! I've got to find her, I've got to—I need to—!"

"You _need_ to stop this, Ariel." Attina's words were firm, her eyes hard as the palace's walls. "You are in no state to look for her. You go out there now, and you'll only be a frantic mother, a nuisance, and you'll detract from all the progress that's being made. The best way to keep Melody safe is to stay here, and after you sleep and have a clear mind, _then_ you can try to locate her. Understand?"

The tone she used left little room for argument. She was no longer a child, but Ariel felt herself sobering up immediately, putting away her trembling lip, and nodding at her eldest sister. "Yes."

The older mermaid's shoulders dropped with a sigh, her grip loosening on her sister. "Good. Now, let's go."

With a rather forceful tug on her arm, Attina made sure her sister followed her. Ariel shook off the hand on her once she started swimming though; she was not a little girl anymore, there was no need to think that she would bolt at any second.

Although, it _was_ a rather tempting idea.

They both stayed quiet as they swum. Ariel tried hard not to meet her sister's eyes, each time they looked behind to make sure she was following. She moved somewhat robotically, her fins trailing behind, but her mind a thousand miles away.

She didn't realize where they were going, until they were at a large shell door. Attina had stopped in front of it, as though patiently waiting for her to catch up. When Ariel was finally near enough for her liking, she swam to the side, opening it, and allowing her sister to enter first, before she did as well and closed the door behind her.

"We pretty much kept your room the same," Attina nodded to everything around her, the decorations still looking like they were painfully stuck in the teenage years. "No one really comes in here much."

"You didn't have to. You could have given it to one of the children," the redhead replied quietly, marveling at how much could change in her life, and yet her room remained the exact same.

"Father would never allow it. And, in a way it just wouldn't feel right." Attina answered without missing a beat, her own eyes wandering around the space. "You know, the last time you stayed here, I think you were with Eric, and I believe it was—"

"Your wedding." Ariel filled in immediately, something tugging slightly at the corner of her lips. "I came to surprise you."

"You certainly did," Attina smiled freely at the memory, before her voice took on a light, teasing tone. "You were about as bloated as a whale, too, if I recall correctly."

"Bloated as a whale?" Ariel frowned, not at the terminology, but at the fact she was being considered as such. Then, she chuckled slightly as she realized, "That's _right_ , I was pregnant. I must have been at least four or five months along at that point."

"And let's not forget the fact that both of you _disappeared_ from the party halfway through," the eldest merprincess said, clearly still amused by the entire thing.

The redhead quirked a brow, confusion now settling over her features. "Wait, I don't remember that."

"Are you _sure_?" Attina pressed, a smirk starting to settle on her features, "Because, I don't think Marin's sister, Mia, and her friends can ever forget."

Ariel's eyes flew wide open, a hand pressing against her mouth in horror when she realized what her sister was referring to. "We didn't make it to a room, we were in the elevating shaft and they opened it…their _faces_ …and…"

"You personally scarred a group of thirteen year olds," her sister finished for her, as Ariel went practically as red as her hair at the very, very thought she hadn't considered for years.

"I…well, I had a lot of hormones!" She blurted out, searching for an excuse to make this seem even remotely better. "How do you even know about that? I bribed them all with Andrina's kelp cookies, the really addicting ones, in exchange for their silence!"

The blunt reply was everything she should have thought of years prior. "They were children, Ariel, it didn't take much to make them crack."

Both sisters regarded one another for a moment. Then, they both broke down into a fit of laughter, Ariel snorting halfway through and making them both giggle even more. Eventually, the laughter subsided into chuckles, though Attina's were cut short by a groan.

One hand over her stomach, the mermaid swam to the bed in the middle of the room, flopping onto it with little grace, her long brunette hair fanning out all around her. Ariel finally sat there too, the situation she was in once again dawning on her, though this time she was able to keep her emotions at bay. Instead, she focused her mothering instincts on her sister, who had now thrown another arm over her eyes.

"Are you alright?" She asked with concern, tucking her hair behind her ears as she did so. "You seem a bit pale."

"I'm fine," Attina answered, not moving a muscle. "It's just a bit of nausea, and some dizziness, it usually passes."

"Did the flu hit the palace early this year?" Attina shook her head; Ariel frowned. "Monthly malady, then?" Another shake of the head, and the younger woman brought her pinky nail to her mouth, chewing on it in thought.

"It's just a persistent illness; Marin thinks I'm exhausted and need a day in bed." She answered, not even cracking her eyes open as she said, "Don't bite your nails, you know it's an awful habit."

At least some things never change, Ariel thought with a wry grin, placing her hand back in her lap. "You've felt this way for awhile?"

"One or two months, at the most," Attina responded, "The girls agree with Marin, though I believe all of them have some sort of alliance against me and are going to tell Father soon if I keep feeling like this."

Her youngest sister frowned, before shrugging lightly. "Maybe it's just a carryover from shark-week, you know?"

Attina peaked out an eye, raising a brow as she questioned, "Shark-week?"

"You came up that terminology when you were explaining to me how I had finally acquired the monthly curse," Ariel smiled was lopsided, one that no doubt she had taken from her husband. "I just never thought to call it anything else."

"So I did," she mumbled, faintly recalling the old memory, though not in its entirety because she'd tried to forget it soon after. "Either way, 'shark-week' hasn't happened for awhile—I may actually be a little late, though it's probably because I've been a bit out of sorts lately."

Something clicked in place in Ariel's mind. Curiously, her eyes drifted over to her sister's midsection, not noticing anything peculiar besides it being exceptionally flat for having two children. Still, everything just seemed like _such_ a coincidence…

"Have you seen the doctor—er, healer lately?" She wondered, heart thrumming in her ears at the very notion.

With one eye still open, Attina regarded her suddenly anxious features, and said slowly, "No…why?"

"I mean, I'm probably wrong, maybe it _is_ stress and exhaustion but…" Ariel bit her lip, eyebrows creasing together, "It sounds like you _might_ be expecting. A baby, I mean, expecting a baby."

Her eldest sister regarded her for a long moment, not a muscle moving. Then, she snorted, a very un-Attina-like thing to do, and closed her eye again. "Since when did you turn into a comedian?"

"I didn't, I'm serious," the younger woman frowned, hurt by the sarcasm clearly available in her voice. "I think you might be pregnant."

"Not possible, we discussed it, after Cori came along, two is _more_ than enough. We've been extremely careful since."

"Alright then, never mind." Ariel remarked, not willing to fight the subject.

Her sister, however, was now not willing to let this issue go. "I mean, I _think_ we've been careful. We _usually_ are…although, every now and then…"

"The only way to know for sure is to ask the healer. Or, wait a few months and see. Either one." Ariel smiled thinly at her own joke, which went to show how she felt about it.

"I'll go tomorrow and see; maybe I'm just worried over nothing?" Attina's voice strained heavily, knowing full well that this could be the thing she was not exactly expecting at the moment. "I mean, imagine, I'd have a eleven year old, an ten year old, and an infant…and then, I'd have two teenagers and a little one."

She shuddered at the thought, it being too much to bear. So she was surprised to hear Ariel change the subject, saying, "Your daughter, Coral, right? She looks like you."

"She looks like me, but acts like _you_. She's stubborn to a fault, adventurous as they come, and wants nothing more than to be free to do what she wishes."

"I turned out alright," the redhead reminded, and Attina opened her eye again, letting it shift over her sister. "What?"

"Motherhood has certainly mellowed you out," she said at length, not wanting to go into the fact that Ariel had literally _run_ off with a human when she was sixteen.

Ariel sighed. "I tried my best to be a responsible parent, but here I am, middle of the night and my daughter's nowhere to be found. If something happens to her…" she couldn't even say how meaningless her life would become should it occur.

"You're too hard on yourself, you know you did what was right to protect her." Attina answered, slowly, calmly. "I don't always get it right either. Lucky for me though, I got to practice on all seven of you, before getting the perfect angel-fish."

"Seven?"

"Coral counts as a practice, Neptune knows how many near-heart attacks she's given me." Attina waved it off, as though it should have been common knowledge.

"So then your youngest, Cori, is…?"

"An angel-fish who, thankfully, causes no trouble. If we could just get him to stop being so _shy_ , he'd be the perfect child." Attina chuckled to herself, obviously not _really_ meaning everything she said. "And…if I _am_ going to have another one, then I'll have another chance."

"Is that how it works now?" Ariel asked, her paper-thin smile reappearing as she listened, though the pain in her eyes told a different story.

Attina opened her other eye, sitting up and looking her sister over. She winced slightly, having forgotten. She hadn't seen her baby sister in so long, things just…well, they slip away after some time.

"I'm sorry, all I keep talking about moving on from one child to the next, and you…"

The pain in Ariel's eyes increased tenfold. "It's fine. The, er, healers on land, all the experts…once I lost the third one…I'm just happy to have Melody. At least, I did have Melody…"

Attina sat up, reaching over to take one of Ariel's hands in her own, and squeeze it tightly. "Stop that talk, baby sister, we _will_ find her."

Ariel looked down at her captured hand, not willing to meet the older woman's eyes. "Morgana has never been found."

"Morgana is _not_ my niece," came the firm reply.

Yet, the guilt weighing down on the redhead only made her feel worse. "Then why am I not out there, looking for her?"

"Because you'll be of no help." Attina answered, automatically. "We already went over this, you'll be an annoyance to the search parties, a worried mother who won't know where to look."

"But—"

"No, Ariel." The grip on her hand got tighter, and the redhead looked up, confused. "Even if you're calm and collected, what do you think would happen should Morgana get ahold of _you_?"

"Better me than my daughter," Ariel answered bitterly, but fiercely.

Attina was not having it though. Sharply, she said, "Do you think Morgana honestly cares who she gets? She's only going after Melody to get to you, to get her revenge for Ursula, and then to try and take the trident! She will _kill_ you if given the opportunity, what good would that be for your daughter?!"

"As long as Melody is safe, I don't care what she would do to me." Ariel replied, blue eyes boring into those of her sister. Neither woman said anything for a moment, staring one another down.

Attina was the first to speak, a calm sort of anger attached to her words. "You are _not_ joining the search parties tonight, Ariel."

"I'm not a child anymore!" Ariel snapped back, snatching her hand from her sister's grip, and gritting her teeth in irritation. "You can't treat me like I'm sixteen; I've grown up since then, for heaven's sake, I'm the _queen_!"

"Not here, you aren't." Her sister replied, green eyes boring holes into the redhead. "Tomorrow you can search for Melody. Tonight, you're staying in and sleeping. Considering we're _both_ in Atlantica, _and_ I outrank you, that's an order."

Stubborn as always, Ariel wasn't willing to back down. She could have come up with a thousand reasons why her sister was wrong, and she was right, and how the laws of succession hadn't been properly looked at since she was _born_. Instead, however, like a match, the light within her suddenly went out, and for the second time that night she crumpled into herself.

Sticks and stones, she reminded herself, were the only thing that could hurt her. Not Attina's firm resolve on her joining the search. So then why did it feel so bad, why did she feel so _useless_?

"Tomorrow, then," she sighed, shaking out her locks. It wasn't worth it to fight, not when she felt this awful, not when her baby was out there, somewhere, and so was her husband. "I suppose I'll just try and sleep."

"That's the best idea you've had all night," Attina huffed, her anger slowly dissipating. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

Ariel shook her head, the feeling so different than the one on land. Her hair floated here, wasn't as heavy. "No, go back to your husband, check up on your children. I'll be fine."

Attina remained unconvinced. "Are you _sure_? I don't mind."

"No, you're right, I need to sleep, and you snore," she managed a half smile when her sister's eyes narrowed at her. So that was still a sore point…very good to know.

"I do not snore," Attina said, very attentive to way the she phrased it. Then, she was the one to sigh, "If you're _sure_ …"

"I am."

"Alright, fine, I'll let you sleep." She got off the bed, standing now, but her fins unsure of whether to really move to the door or not. "If you need anything, though, my room is—"

"It's the one with the best view of the garden. I remember." Ariel said softly, pulling the blanket closer to her.

"Right." Her sister affirmed, still biting her lip, not quite ready to leave just yet. "And just so you know, there are guards everywhere, so if you even _try_ to sneak out—"

"I won't."

Attina blinked. That didn't sound like Ariel. But then, she'd only seen her a handful of times in the past twelve years, and they had both grown up so much since then. Her baby sister had been right; she was no longer sixteen.

"I guess it's goodnight then," she said, a bit awkwardly, because she would've tucked in her baby sister at this point years ago, only the baby sister from then, and the woman here now, were like two complete strangers.

"Goodnight," Ariel returned, her eyes sincere.

Attina nodded at her, and started to swim for the shell door, when she turned back suddenly. "It _is_ good to see you again, Ariel. I've really missed you."

"Me too," the redhead confessed, gripping the blanket with vice like fingers. "Attina?"

"Hm?"

"I forgot to ask—why is your hair down? You never wear it down." It was something that had been bugging at Ariel, something she'd noticed immediately.

Her older sister's hand immediately flew to her head, obviously not feeling the hairpiece she adored, as her hair was not picked up. She smiled bashfully. "I don't really wear it up to sleep anymore. Marin likes it better down."

"Oh." Was all Ariel managed. "Goodnight…again. Turn off the light and close the door on your way out, please."

"Of course," Attina murmured, replying with her own, "goodnight", before eradicating the light source in the room, and closing the door behind her.

Once she was outside the room, she let out a very long, very controlled breath, closing her eyes as another wave of dizziness hit her. She pressed a hand to her stomach, looking down in wonder, in worry, before rolling her shoulders back with a sigh, and swimming off to her room.

Ariel sat there in the dark for a few more minutes, before finally laying down. She grabbed one of the sponge pillows and hugged it tightly against her. She closed her eyes.

Then she proceeded to cry.

* * *

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